Curry scored 44 points – the second-most ever scored against the Spurs in the playoffs behind 45 tallied by Kobe Bryant in the 2001 conference finals – but somehow it wasn't enough for Golden State to avoid their 30th consecutive loss in San Antonio.

Tony Parker finished with 28 points to pace the Spurs, and Danny Green added 22, including the 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left in regulation to cap an 18-2 run and force OT.

Behind by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Spurs found a path to victory. Afterward, Ginobili was at least honest about how it happened.

"I have no clue," he said.

Up until the last part of the fourth quarter, the Warriors seemed poised to pull off not just an upset, but a statement.

Fresh off dispatching third-seeded Denver, upstart Golden State came into Monday riding a wave of momentum and confident.

Asked before the game what his team gained in the first round, Curry had an answer: "An expectation to win."

Curry nearly got the Warriors there with a third quarter the likes of which, any other night, might have had Popovich mesmerized.

He threw in 22 points in the third quarter, including 16 in a row between the 3:33 and 37.5-second mark, to push his team's lead as high as 90-72 and send much of the AT&T Center crowd streaming to the parking lot.

Not long after, Duncan nearly joined them. The All-Star had missed a Saturday practice with illness, and labored through 34 minutes Monday to produce 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Ginobili could tell something was wrong with his team's captain at a timeout in the second half.

"His eyes were lost," Ginobili said. "He couldn't raise his head. Pop was talking to him, and he was just lost. Staring at the floor."

With 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Popovich – sensing his 37-year-old big man had nothing left to give – sent Duncan to the locker room.

The Spurs were down 104-88 at the time.

The comeback began unremarkably, with Parker knocking down a pair of foul shots with 3:57 to play. By the time the Spurs were finished with their run, the score was tied.

It was the first time the Spurs had not trailed since taking a 3-2 early in the first quarter.

Game on.

"I thought we competed in the second half," Popovich said. "By the fourth quarter, I thought we played like a team that knew it was in the playoffs. We finally woke up."

If the Spurs are in search of a game-plan for Curry in Game 2 on Wednesday, here's something: Try making him play but all four seconds of regulation again.

Clearly wearing down after his third-quarter outburst, Curry missed 8 of his final 13 shots. The 25-year-old played 57:56 of a possible 58 minutes.

"We knew coming in it would be a heck of a series," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "Give them credit. They fought back. We're a young basketball team that will be better at the end of the day for playing against the San Antonio Spurs."

Ginobili – who finished with 16 points and 11 assists – missed a potential game-winning jumper at the end of the first overtime. In the second OT, the Spurs carried a five-point lead into the final minute and squandered that.

"Keep fighting and see what happens," said Green, who made 6 of 9 3-pointers. "That was the mindset."

Ginobili prefaced his heroic final shot with a boneheaded one, forcing a contested 27-footer with 44 seconds to play and the Spurs ahead by three.

It missed, and then Curry hit a scoop to cut the deficit to one with 32.8 seconds to go. Moments later, a little-known Warriors rookie named Kent Bazemore scored his first basket of the postseason on a layup off a scramble to put the Warriors ahead 127-126, and within 3.9 seconds of a 1-0 series lead.

Then for Ginobili, a wide-open 3. And atonement.

"I went from trading him on the spot," Popovich said, "to wanting to cook him breakfast tomorrow."

Afterward, Ginobili played along.

"I'll have an omelet," he said, "with mushroom."

The inbound play that finally put an end to the madness wasn't supposed to go Ginobili.

"I wasn't even an option," Ginobili said. "They told me to go screen and stay far away from the play."

But then a defensive lapse – possibly by another rookie, Harrison Barnes – left Ginobili alone.

"We left him butt naked," Bazemore said.

Kawhi Leonard inbounded the ball across the court to the open Argentine. Those left at the AT&T Center held their collective breath.

From no option to the Spurs' only option, Ginobili ended the Warriors' Cinderella night.